Anniversary
by Sparkly Faerie
Summary: On the anniversary of their meeting, Kinomoto Sakura waits at a special place for a special someone. [SxS oneshot]


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EDIT 30/9/2009: I was re-reading this the other day, and the spacing really bugs me. So, no, I haven't changed the writing itself, just the spacing, since I learnt how to single space _**after**_** I wrote this.**

**This was written originally as a birthday present for the first anniversary of my account. Wow, it's almost three years old now. o.O**

**Also, FanFiction. Net likes to screw with my formatting.**

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own Card Captor Sakura or anything assosiated with it. All rights to Card Captor Sakura and affiliated products belong to CLAMP and the other proper entities.

**Summary:** On the anniversary of their meeting, Kinomoto Sakura waits at a special place for a special someone.

**Rating:** T

**Pairings:** SxS

**Genre:** Romance

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**Anniversary**

Sakura lingered on the bridge where she and Syaoran had said goodbye. It had been eleven long years since that particular farewell. Kinomoto Sakura had changed so much that she was now almost unrecognisable from the ten-year-old girl that had stood at this same spot eleven years ago.

Back then; Sakura was athletic and not particularly cute. She was just a face in the crowd. It was her cousin, Tomoyo, who stood out as the beauty. Sakura and Tomoyo were the best of friends, yet they were total opposites. Tomoyo was quiet and reserved, preferring the company of her video camera, whereas Sakura was loud and friendly, preferring large crowds to solitude.

No, things had definitely changed. Those _people_ had changed. Though Sakura had a similar face, it was quite different. To the one she had as a child. The eyes were still green; the nose was still delicate; the mouth was still curled into a tiny smile; but she was different.

This time, standing here, she was not a child, bidding farewell to a friend; but a woman, bidding welcome to that self-same friend. The friend that she had ached to see for four, almost five long years. The friend that had captured her heart in his cold and initially unfeeling grasp, and had grown to feel due to its radiant warmth.

The small, scrawny child had grown into a beautiful woman. She was no longer small and skinny, but tall and attractive. If she walked the right way, if she spoke the right way, if she even _looked_ at a man in the right way, she would have him wrapped around her little finger. Of course… she was still naïve enough not to notice this.

This friend that she had not seen for four years… he had not been here for eleven. Yes, the math was correct. For Sakura had gone to see this friend in his homeland, four years previously.

It was impractical for her to go, but she felt the need to. So she spent the summer there at his family's mansion, where she made friends with his sisters and mother. She simply _adored_ his nieces and nephews.

And, unbeknownst to her, everyone in that household adored her and was terribly sad to see her go. She didn't see the way that her friend's family clutched at him and begged him to marry her to keep her there. She didn't see the way he had blushed and ordered them to leave him in peace and to 'stop making such foolish suggestions, since she'd never be interested anyway'.

Ah, but how wrong he was. In fact, she felt the same as he did. That she ached to be around him every waking moment, and that she believed that he would never even look at her as more than a friend. Had they not, after all, been through too much together to let a romance gone awry tear their friendship apart? That was the thought that stopped them confessing their feelings towards one another.

The woman stood there, a faint smile adorning her lips as she thought about all the times that they had spent together as children. The times when he had risked his life to save her; the times when he had risked her life to save him.

One time that stood out in the woman's mind was the time in the elevator. The first time he had called her by her first name. She remembered it vividly.

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_She was trapped in an elevator with him. It was dark; the power had cut. Sakura was fingering her necklace, afraid. She felt some sort of magical aura floating around, but she couldn't pinpoint its source._

_They were trapped in there for hours. No one knew where they were. Sakura remembered crying into Syaoran's, her friend's, shoulder, all the while whispering that this was like her worst nightmare. She also remembered the words that he mumbled into her ear to comfort her. To let her know that he was there for her. And that she needn't be afraid._

_"It's alright, Kinomoto… I won't let anything happen to you, I promise… It will be alright… there's just been a power surge, we'll be moving in no time…"_

_Well, when the elevator had begun moving again, it was with a huge lurch and a sudden stop again. Sakura remembered her stomach falling out from underneath her and losing her footing. She remembered being thrown backwards, as if in slow motion, towards the disappearing wall of the elevator. She remembered screaming._

_"I got you, Kinomoto!" Syaoran had called out to her, "I got you!"_

_But her fingers had fallen through his grasp, and she was falling. Falling towards her doom._

_"Sakura!" She heard from above her. He'd never said it before, but she knew it was Syaoran calling out to her. Hearing his voice call out for her in fear reminded her that she was the Card Mistress. She could save herself. And she did._

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The woman on the bridge stared into the river flowing underneath. She sighed; the wind teasing her gently curled hair loose of the ribbon that tied the thick strand back. The wind picked up, blowing against her cold skin like a cold wave of icy water. The force of the wind was becoming quite strong, but still she stood there. She had promised.

It was now nearing dark, and he was not yet there. Sakura looked this way and that, every time she thought she heard the rustling of a jacket, or a footfall on the pavement. But her friend never arrived.

Sakura turned, her back to the railing on the side of the bridge, and slid down to rest on the cold ground. Tears began to fall from her bright eyes. She had thought that today was the day that she would see him again. But he had stood her up.

Wiping her face dry, she stood up and faced the water again. She refused to believe that he had abandoned her out in the night. He would come. He had to come. He had promised.

Her hair fell free of its restraints and began to flow freely and hung to her waist. The long tendrils curled and straightened randomly, giving a beauty to the auburn strands that was magnified when the silver moonlight touched each individual strand and bounced off, giving her a silver halo. Her milky skin seemed soft and supple as she closed her emerald jewels and lifted her drying face to the wind.

He would come. She would wait.

"Kinomoto Sakura?" A soft, deep, _masculine_ voice interrupted her thoughts. Sakura opened an eye to see an unfamiliar man watching her.

"Yes?"

"I am a representative of Li Syaoran." Was all that he offered up. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"And how may I help you?" She asked politely, turning to face him.

"Mr Li requested that I give you this." The suited man with black sunglasses handed over a note. Sakura took it with trembling hands and read it.

_Sakura,_

_I am deeply sorry that I did not come to meet you at the allocated point, but I have something even more fun in mind. You will find your first clue on the back of the envelope._

_Syaoran._

"Thank you." Sakura nodded to the man who had given it to her as he turned to leave. She flipped over the envelope to find a small amount of writing.

_A storm that raged not only around us, but in my head as well.  
__You'd had what I'd wanted. I was going to give you hell.  
__I had realised it, but I didn't acknowledge your power.  
__Now it's time to revisit that place, high atop the tower._

Sakura smiled. She knew what he was doing. She would follow his clues.

She made it to the place that Syaoran had indicated. The top of the Elementary School, where they had fought the Thunder Card. There, on the weather main, was another note.

_Time and again; we tried and tried.  
__With the frustration, I almost cried.  
__Where Time was repeating, that is the place.  
__The one day in life I wished to erase._

That could have meant one of two things. Either the Clock tower, or the beach where the Erase Card was. Sakura read the clue again.

'_Time and again; we tried and tried._' And '_Where Time was repeating, that is the place._' They stood out to her. She tried the clock tower.

When she had made it to the top, there was someone there. But not just any someone. Kaho Mitzuki, her teacher from elementary school. Sakura dry-swallowed.

"Welcome, Sakura." Kaho said without taking her eyes off the sky.

"Uh… thanks?" Sakura cocked her head to the side, not quite sure what was going on. Kaho turned around with a smile and a note in her hand.

"I believe this was to be for you." She handed it over to Sakura, who only stared at her in wonder. Kaho gave her a brief hug, and was gone in an instant. Sakura shook her head in confusion. She opened the letter.

_Where I first realised the feelings I had were not just a foolish crush.  
__Where I first realised that I did love you so much.  
__Where we almost lost each other due to a foolish prank.  
__Your safety is one thing that to God I truly do thank._

Sakura furrowed her brow. '_Lost_ _each other_'? What did he mean by that? Did he mean the time in the elevator? Or the time in the cave? But… '_Feelings were not just a foolish crush_'?

Sakura had a one in two chance of being right, right? She went for the obvious. The elevator.

She had some trouble navigating her way there. In the end it was just simpler to fly there. And that's just what she did. She settled down outside the front door, and that was where she found he next and last clue.

_The place where I told you I loved you.  
__You halted, unsure if it was true.  
__Well, now know I did not and will not lie.  
__I tried and tried to express the feelings I have inside._

_Where I told you I would leave you.  
__All this time, did you even have a clue?  
__I was there all along. I've been watching you._

_Come back to me, Cherry Blossom.  
__Come and tell me if you love me or not.  
__For I cannot go any longer with these feelings and not knowing.  
__I need to know if you love me like I love you._

_On the anniversary of our first meeting,  
__I'm waiting at your starting point.  
__The bridge we said goodbye at.  
__The allocated meeting point._

Sakura read it over again and again. He… loved her? After all these years? Like she loved him? Oh, it was all to good to be true!

Sakura flew in record time to the bridge again, looking around like mad. The letter was still clutched in her hand, balled into her fist. She searched the area in her excitement. He hung her head in disappointment when he realised that he was not there.

Perhaps she had taken too long? Or maybe he realised that he was only making a mistake by telling her? Or maybe, and Sakura didn't want to think it, this was all a cruel joke that he was playing on her.

Sakura sank to the ground and cried. He wasn't here. He wasn't coming. He had played a prank on her. A very painful prank.

"Sakura?" A voice broke through to her, and she felt herself being helped up b a pair of strong arms, "Sakura, are you ok?"

"Syaoran?" Sakura squeaked through her tears. The man held her close and rocked her backwards and forwards.

"Yes Sakura, its me." Sakura's heart soared. He was there. He hadn't played a prank on her. He hadn't abandoned her.

"Syaoran, that last letter…?" Sakura trailed off and looked up into his large amber eyes. His chocolate coloured hair was long enough to fall into his eyes, but it only made his look all the better for it. He was a head taller than her, and his small, nervous smile made him look so cute.

"All true." He sighed, closing his eyes, "Sakura, I-" Hi whole body froze and he was cut off by her lips. His eyes snapped open to see the eyelids of the girl that was kissing him. Her captivating emerald jewels were blocked from his view.

Slowly, he let his arms snake around Sakura's waist. She was so tiny and perfect. She fit into his arms so well, it made his heart break.

"I love you, Sakura." He whispered as soon as she drew away for breath. Then, Sakura said those four little words that made his world stop.

"I love you too."

And this time it was Syaoran who leaned in and claimed Sakura's perfect, soft lips in a tender, loving kiss.

"Happy anniversary, Sakura." He ginned down at her. She smiled lazily back up at him, and took her hands from his chest to rest at the nape of his neck.

"Happy anniversary, Syaoran." He kissed him softly, "And I hope there will be many more to come."

"Me too." Syaoran claimed Sakura's lips once more in a loving, yet passionate kiss.

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**I'm not even going to put the old AN here. Just, let it be known that I don't really like this piece anymore.**


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